We took Sam to see Santa for the first time this morning. If you are wondering how it went, let’s just say we have finally found someone that Sam doesn’t like. HA!



From December 2009

Even bribery with a candy cane didn’t help…



From December 2009

Before we left, Santa asked if Sam was 14 months. Travis said yes and Santa replied that it will be better next year. Let’s hope so (even though we did get a good laugh out of it!)




From Candid Peeper shots

Four years ago today, I was born- the runt of the litter and the only one to survive. My puppy mom and dad, Bitsy and Kibbles, are brother and sister. I should’ve known that would mean that I would be a bit peculiar. When my human mom and dad saw me, I knew how to walk in one direction- backwards. My belly was so fat my little legs could hardly touch the ground. They loved on me every second they could and my dad taught me how to howl. I bet they didn’t realize just how vocal I would become after that. Below is my puppy mom and dad, Bitsy is on the left and Kibbles is on the right.



From Candid Peeper shots

When I was 6 weeks old, they took me home with them. It was nice. Up until then, I had lived in an old chicken coop to keep me safe and dry during the cold weather. My first home was in Smyrna, Georgia. I learned to climb stairs and experienced snow for the first time there. A few months later, I moved again. This time to New Orleans, LA. I really liked it there. It was hardly ever cold. The first place I lived was in a little apartment, but we soon moved to a much larger apartment on the campus of where my mom and dad worked. I had friends there- Nino and Mikey. I also had neighbor dogs that I barked at every chance I got- Penelope and Taylor. I loved looking out the window there and seeing all the kids run by. I barked at them too- made a few cry even though they were running through my walkway to their apartment and I was behind a locked door. I think that kid was just a pansy though.

I lived there for almost 2 years. Then we moved to Wake Forest, NC. About 6 months after we moved there, I became a big brother. I love Sam and am even learning to like him. We cuddled a lot when he was real small and didn’t do much.



From Sam November Pics

Our relationship has changed since he became active though. I give him kisses when he sticks his hand in front of me and points at me. We like to play chase, or rather HE likes to chase me. I don’t mind though. He tries to talk to me but I don’t know what he is saying. He drops me food when he decides he has had enough to eat. For this I am eternally grateful.

After living in Wake Forest for a little over a year, my parents bought a house. I gained a backyard! This is the first time I have ever had one of these and they are great. I can go out there all by myself and run around chasing animals and barking at people. Oh, the freedom!!



From June Sam Pics

I love birthdays. They are a great time to look back and reflect on things that have occurred in life. In my four years, I have lived in three states and have had six different addresses. I have a mommy and daddy who love me and allow me to wear clothes in the cooler months so I don’t shiver as much. However, I think the coolest thing about my birthday is that I share it with my Grandma Judy down in Mississippi. Happy Birthday, Grandma!! I love you- Peeper.

Now, I am off to explore a little and see what I can get into today.



From Candid Peeper shots

We just got back from visiting Travis’ parents for the weekend. We are actually going to be there for Thanksgiving this year but had already planned on going there this weekend so we still went for a visit. Travis’ dad kept asking if he could take Sam for a ride on the 4-wheeler. Finally, after Sam took a nap Saturday afternoon, Sam got to ride on the 4-wheeler. He did well. We could tell he was a bit scared but he didn’t wiggle around- he just quietly sucked his thumb while riding in a slow circle around the front yard. Here are a few pictures of the big event.
Backing out of the shed where the 4-wheeler is stored…



From November 2009

Riding around the yard…



From November 2009




From November 2009




From November 2009

Close-up after the ride was over…



From November 2009

One of the dogs started chewing on a stick while we were all watching Sam ride.
(FYI- if you look in the background, you will see Peeper’s momma, Bitsy.)



From November 2009

Upon further investigation, we learned that her “stick” wasn’t a stick at all…



From November 2009

It was a deer leg!! GROSS!!!



From November 2009

While Travis was in the ATL for a meeting, Sam and I visited Target and I bought Sam a set of cardboard blocks. When Travis got back, he put them together and then played with them with Sam. Here they are building a tower…



From November 2009

and here is Sam pulling out a block to make the whole tower fall. HA!



From November 2009

Now, I am looking forward to having a laid back week at home. Sam and I have minimal plans so we shall see if it remains that way or not. We might go to the park tomorrow since it is supposed to be a beautiful day, we have Storytime at the library Tuesday, and MOPS on Wednesday. Other than that, our daytime schedule is open. WOO HOO!!!




From Halloween 2009

The above picture shows the cutest Yoda ever. We had a blast this year for Halloween. Last year, Sam was just a month old so he just laid around. This year, he was able to explore and participate. The first thing we did was head to our church’s fall festival.



From Halloween 2009

They had a lot of activities for kids but, obviously, Sam was too young for them. He did enjoy the wooden car cutout though.



From Halloween 2009

The only activity he really could participate in was the pick up the duck game. Sam walked right up to it and picked up a duck as if he knew what he was supposed to do. It was cute!



From Halloween 2009

After the fall festival, we went to Travis’ boss’ house for a Halloween party. We had a blast. Some of Sam’s friends were there and they interacted (as much as 1 year olds do) while looking cute in their outfits. Here are Sam and Ari with Ari’s dad.



From Halloween 2009

Ari was the cutest Viking I have ever seen. His mom made his entire outfit and it looked phenomenal. Travis took this picture and thought it was a great one (and I concur.)



From Halloween 2009

Here is Sam’s other buddy, Batman, I mean, Baxter.



From Halloween 2009

They played on the back porch for the majority of the time. Sam practiced his walking.



From Halloween 2009

Then Ari and Sam played on the lawnmower that was used for a backyard hayride.



From Halloween 2009

Sam went on a “hay ride” with Travis.



From Halloween 2009

In conclusion, while in Mississippi, my mom and I took Sam to Wal-Mart to have some halloween pictures made. Here is the cute yoda again. I am looking forward to next year when we might can try a little trick-or-treating.



From Halloween 2009

Yesterday, Sam and I killed an hour by playing in our backyard. We had lots of fun- Sam playing with a flower pot, swinging, and walking along the fence and me taking pictures and making a couple of little movies. Below are some of the pictures. To see more (I took A LOT,) just click on any of the pictures and it will take you to our online photo album and you can view some more (or you can click on “November 2009″ over on the right in the top section.) Anyway, without further adieu, the pictures…



From November 2009

Here is proof he has some hair.



From November 2009

He was talking to Peeper in this picture.



From November 2009

He loves sticking his tongue out and we think it is adorable.



From November 2009

Happy baby!



From November 2009

Lot at all those teeth- all 10 of them!!



From November 2009




From November 2009

Another tongue shot.



From November 2009

Hope you enjoyed!!

I finally have made time for updating our blog about when Sam and I went to SC, MS, and AL a few weeks ago. We had lots of fun, visited LOTS of people, and saw lots of cool stuff. Like usual, for the blog, I will narrate via pictures. Let’s get started!!
First, we went to SC to visit both sets of my grandparents. We first hung out with my mom’s parents in Kershaw. Their neighbor across the street has an alpaca as a pet. He was only 3 or 4 months old when we were there and is very friendly so we took Sam over for them to get acquainted. Sam enjoyed sticking his fingers through the fence trying to pet the alpaca.



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

But he REALLY enjoyed it when the alpaca came out of his pen and stood beside Sam.



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

Here are Sam and me with my grandparents.



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

Then we drove to the upstate of SC to visit my dad’s mom. During this trip, Sam started putting things on his head. Here he is putting his teething blanket on his head and playing peek-a-boo with it.



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

Sam enjoyed playing with his great-grandma.



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

My dad, Sam, and me with my grandma. She is 93 years old (I think- I am at least in the ballpark.)



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

Sam is MILDLY obsessed with phones and remotes right now and quickly learned where my aunt stores her cell phone. He played with it the majority of the time we were there.



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

On the way to Mississippi, we stopped at Priesters in Alabama for a potty/nursing break. Sam got to ride on his first tire swing and I think he enjoyed it.



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

While we were in MS, the gulf coast had a HUGE event called Cruisin’ the Coast. It is an antique car show that spans the entire coast of MS. My parent’s church do a street ministry on the Saturday that Cruisin’ is in Bay St. Louis and my dad designs the shirts for volunteers to wear. This year, he chose to do an old VW “bus” with the Fruit of the Spirit on it. Sam is modeling his shirt below.



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

Here is just a snippet of some of the cars that were parked in the church parking lot of Cruisin.



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

One Saturday while we were down there, we went to Mobile, AL for a University of South Alabama football game. The entire time I was a student the student body pushed to have a football team. I graduated in 2001, it is now 2009 and they FINALLY have a team. I was so excited that we were able to go to a game during the inaugural season. They play NC State in 2011 up here in Raleigh, so I am definitely planning on going to that game and cheering on my Jaguars. I LOVE college football. Anyway, this was Sam’s first football game and it was HOT HOT HOT so Sam had to wear his hat to protect his mainly bald head and ears. Here he is enjoying the game with my dad.



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

Then the Jaguar (who won a national competition last year for being the best mascot) visited and Sam and I got our picture made with him. The Jag actually held Sam, which I wasn’t expecting, but it made for a cute picture and you can definitely tell that our son is not scared of costumes.



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

Below are a couple of pictures from the game, South played Georgia Military Institute and beat them 31-3. Way to go, Jags!!



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS




From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

Another example of Sam putting toys on his head- this is his chicken truck.



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

We have a close family friend who works at Lowe’s in Waveland. My dad wanted to get a picture taken of Sam in their cool race car buggy so we took Sam up there and got a picture made with Ben pretending to push Sam. Sam LOVED the buggy. I wish our Lowe’s had these things.



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

We also tried to get Sam’s picture taken beside a baby palm tree but Sam kept trying to walk off. Oh well…



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

The last major thing we did was go to Lynn Meadows Discovery Place in Gulfport. It was awesome! It is a children’s museum that has won all sorts of awards. They had an area specifically for toddlers and so we started there. Sam really enjoyed the foam lizards that link together like a puzzle.



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

After playing in the toddler area for awhile, we ventured out into the rest of the museum. Sam and I chose to climb the spider web to get to the second floor. Let’s just say I am a bit too tall for the web. Sam had fun and just needed my help with a few of the inclines and when he had to go to a different platform to keep climbing. I was exhausted by the time we got to the second floor. HA!



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS




From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

Whew! We made it!



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

As mentioned previously, Sam is interested in phones. You can put things up to your ear and say “hello” and Sam will mimic. Here is Sam talking on his banana-phone in the grocery store part of the museum.



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

They had this cool kayak “ride” where you sit in the kayak and watch yourself paddle down the river on a big screen TV in front of you. The wall is painted green so it won’t show up on the TV screen and interfere with the scenery- just like when the weatherman is reporting. This picture cracks me up because Sam is like “uh, what do I do now?”



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

Here is what the screen looks looks like on the TV.



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

My parents love going to a restaurant called the Triple Nickel. It is in a gas station and it is phenomenal- not your typical truck stop restaurant. Their waitress calls herself Lo-Lo and Sam took an immediate liking to her. Here they are one night before we left. It was raining so Sam is wearing his monkey rain hat- too cute!



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

Here they are outside the restaurant, Lo-Lo designated herself as Sam’s personal buckle-uper and she would take him outside and buckle him in his carseat when it was time for us to leave. Like, I said, Sam really likes Lo-Lo.



From Sam's Trip to SC & MS

Well, that is a brief synopsis of our trip. We had tons of fun and will be back down there in December for a wedding so I am sure there will be some more adventures to post then. Sometime this week, I hope to get a chance to post about Halloween but I am not making any promises. Travis has to travel part of the week and I try to keep my goals minimal while he is gone. HA!! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my little update.

Sam is really working on walking. Last night, we got him to walk between the two of us for quite awhile. We didn’t think of video-ing it until near the end so he was getting tired and falling over a lot more than he had previously been.

Sidenote- Peeper makes a couple of appearances and don’t be alarmed- our dog wears clothes when the weather gets cooler and, yes, that is a halloween outfit he has on.

If you haven’t read about our trip to the pumpkin patch, keep on reading after you watch the video.

Enjoy!
Steph




From Hill Ridge Farms

We had a “family day” today to celebrate being back together after Sam and I were in Mississippi for a few weeks. We went to Hill Ridge Farms in Youngsville, NC for some good Fall fun. It was cold and dripped rain periodically but we still enjoyed ourselves. Sam was VERY into the hay, as you can tell from some of the pictures I’ve posted below from our hayride.



From Hill Ridge Farms




From Hill Ridge Farms

While on our hay ride, we rode past several activities on the farm. I look forward to the day when Sam is old enough to actually play and interact with these. It will be fun!
There was a fort…



From Hill Ridge Farms

a tipi (that was actually how they spelled it- a first for me!)…



From Hill Ridge Farms

an area with goats, a llama, chickens, and ducks…



From Hill Ridge Farms

and a train you could ride around the farm.



From Hill Ridge Farms

Sam enjoyed playing with the pumpkins in the pumpkin patch…



From Hill Ridge Farms

and with his pumpkin we got to take home.



From Hill Ridge Farms

They have this cute sign where you can keep track of how much your child grows from year to year. I look forward to getting “updated” shots of Sam as he grows through the years.



From Hill Ridge Farms

Then we came home and I did laundry and worked on unpacking everything from our trip. I organized Sam’s closet so that I could fit shoes and such in there. I downloaded all the pictures from our trip to my computer so be looking for a post(s) soon regarding that. Sam and Travis had a lot of playtime together today which was great since they haven’t been able to do that lately. I am so thankful that Travis was able to spend the day with us and I definitely enjoyed our family day.

I’ve been in Mississippi for a visit with my folks. I don’t have the cord to connect my camera to the computer so I can download pictures and post a good update. I fly back to NC tomorrow and I will try to post an update ASAP. Sorry for the delay folks!
Steph

Well, today is Sam’s 1st birthday and it has been a great day! I will tell you more a bit later. First, I want to show you what Sam looked like one year ago today…



From Sam's Hospital Pics

Now, to see how much he has grown. Here is Sam trying to avoid having his pants taken off at his birthday party with Travis’ side of the family.



From Sam's Birthday Parties

Now, on to the birthday pics. We took quite a few so I will just show similar ones from each party. The first set with with the Wright side of the family and this party occurred Labor Day weekend.

First, is the cake eating. Sam was a bit uncertain about this and sat there and picked the confetti sprinkles off of his cake before picking the icing balloons off BEFORE finally getting into the rest of the icing.



From Sam's Birthday Parties

Then he enjoyed opening his presents and seeing all the cool stuff people gave him.



From Sam's Birthday Parties

The next pictures were from yesterday with my side of the family and a couple of friends from the area.
Here is a picture of the cake I decorated all by myself. I am quite proud of this cake- my cake decorating class definitely paid off!



From Sam's Birthday Parties

Now, here is Sam eating his caterpillar cake.



From Sam's Birthday Parties

Here he is checking out some of his gifts.



From Sam's Birthday Parties

Both of his parties were tons of fun and Sam enjoyed each of them. I can’t wait for more birthday parties as I am sure they will get more exciting with each passing year.

Now on to today, his actual birthday. My parents are visiting and so we all got up, got ready, and went to church. After church, we headed to the NC State Farmer’s Market Restaurant for lunch. It is such a good restaurant and almost everything produce-wise comes from the farmer’s market that is located right across the parking lot. Sam was a PIGGY! He ate some of my mom’s, mine, and Travis’ lunches. My dad had breakfast so he didn’t share. HA! Sam ate beets (1st time- loved them,) hamburger steak, peaches, green beans (he cried with the waiter took away the green beans,) banana pudding, chicken, and sweet potatoes. Then, we stopped by Pullen Park on the way home. At the end of the month, Pullen park will be closing their carousel down for a year in order to do repairs. I have heard of this park from several blogs that I read and have been wanting to go there. I didn’t realize until last night just how close to the farmer’s market it was. Therefore, we stopped there today. Here is Sam enjoying his carousel ride. The first time he rode the carousel, he rode it with Travis and since Travis didn’t have a ticket he couldn’t actually “ride” on an animal. Sam didn’t want to ride on the horse by himself so Travis ended up holding him the whole time. Here is their picture.



From Sam's Birthday Parties

Then, my mom and I bought tickets and actually rode on the animals with Sam. I guess he enjoyed it. He didn’t fuss but he just sat there and sucked his thumb the whole time while holding onto the pole. I had to sit up on the hump on the back of the saddle so Sam could ride in the saddle with me. It was quite uncomfortable. HA!



From Sam's Birthday Parties

After the carousel we rode a little train around the park. He rode in Travis’ lap for this ride but I didn’t have a picture of it. I took one and it didn’t make the move from my camera to the computer apparently. Oops!

Anyway, after that, we came home and chilled out for a little while. My parents gave Sam some fridge farm magnets and he enjoyed playing with them and the cooler, so he did that for part of the afternoon.



From Sam's Birthday Parties

Now on to the next holiday that will be celebrated in our house- HALLOWEEN! We got Sam’s costume yesterday. All I know is that I think this is the world’s cutest YODA!



From Sam's Birthday Parties

We go to the doctor tomorrow for his 12 month check-up and I am very interested in seeing how much he has grown. I will post that information a bit later. I hope you have enjoyed my birthday post. There are a lot more pictures in our online album and you can view them by clicking here.

Adios!